NATIVITY By Mike Herron

Chapter 16: ESCAPE TO EGYPT AND RETURN - Matthew 2:13-23 (December 29 th )

esus’ birth was welcomed with praises and prophecy but also with weeping and martyrdom. ‘So close to adoration and offerings murder stalked.’ 1 This narrative is not found anywhere else in the New Testament or in contemporary historical documents. It foreshadows Jesus as the new Moses who would lead his people in a spiritual Exodus out of the bondage of sin. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” (NIV) Heaven knows the future and God protects those who are called according to His purpose. We assume this second dream is a continuation of the angel Gabriel’s ministry to Joseph. A dream of guidance from God takes place deep in the subconscious mind uncluttered from human intervention. The Jewish historian Philo states that there were a million Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt at this time. 2 The Holy Family would find refuge among the children of Abraham as Satan sought to kill the baby boy: ‘He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born.’ (Rev. 12:4 NLT) Any delay in obeying the angelic directions would have been disastrous. 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” The departure at night is meant to remind us of the Passover in Egypt when the Israelites fled Egypt in the darkness.